Part 2: Is a Smartwatch Really a Watch?

- Keith Lehman (PA) 2/13/17

Photo of Mr. Halimi Lacharlotte. Courtesy F.P. Journe.

A few months have passed since we last asked industry professionals if smartwatches are really watches. Since then the industry continues to boom and evolve with daily updates in our news feeds about the market’s latest and greatest and its winners and losers.

Whether you are in the smart, quartz, or mechanical watch market, it’s an uncertain and exciting time in the watch industry.

Last October, along with Jack Forster, editor of Hodinkee, I had the privilege to collaborate with Pierre Halimi Lacharlotte, general manager of Montres Journe America, presenting “The History of the Calendar,” a panel discussion presented by F.P. Journe and hosted by the New York Horological Society.

I asked Mr. Halimi Lacharlotte his thoughts on smartwatches, and he was happy to share his thoughts, which are bulleted into three categories.

Whether you are in the smart, quartz, or mechanical watch market, it’s an uncertain and exciting time in the watch industry.

Last October, along with Jack Forster, editor of Hodinkee, I had the privilege to collaborate with Pierre Halimi Lacharlotte, general manager of Montres Journe America, presenting “The History of the Calendar,” a panel discussion presented by F.P. Journe and hosted by the New York Horological Society.

I asked Mr. Halimi Lacharlotte his thoughts on smartwatches, and he was happy to share his thoughts, which are bulleted into three categories.

Semantics: Dumb is the antonym of the word smart. Because there are no “dumb watches,” watches that do something other than tell time should have a different name. For argument’s sake, let's call these type of watches “watches plus.”

Tradition: “Watches plus” are a fantastic tool, but like a hammer, it stays just that—a tool. When you buy a mechanical watch, there is a man behind the piece, not a machine producing electronic outputs. A little bit like art, you can have a fantastic reproduction of Picasso’s Guernica but owning it, seeing the original in person, makes an emotional connection. Technology does not replace or provide emotion. There is a reason why there are more museums being built now more than ever..

Philosophical: Like watches with LED displays, a “watch plus” gives only a snapshot of what time it is now. On top of that snapshot, an analog watch with a circular display offers time in terms of past and future—a duration. A “watch plus,” much like a GPS, only gives your actual position, whereas an analog watch, like a map, gives you the position where you are traveling. This perception gives you depth.